Last month MLG announced a $100,000 Overwatch tournament at MLG Vegas. The 8 team invitational tournament at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino is scheduled to run on December 16th-18th, but questions abounded about the teams. Would it be an NA only event? Would nV and NRG play, since they're in Korea just beforehand?

Questions that have now been answered, thanks to this announcement from MLG:

Invited Teams

  • compLexity
  • Fnatic
  • NRG
  • Liquid
  • Rise Nation
  • FaZe
  • Cloud9
  • EnVyUs

Reportedly 12 teams were being considered for the 8 slots, and teams such as Luminosity and Immortals have notably missed out. Region-locking in Overwatch remains a sticky issue with teams frequently moving their base to reside in another region. The event seems to have been conceived as an NA-only event, which one would have expected to exclude top European teams and potentially even FaZe, but it appears MLG are content that these teams live in North America even if the players are not from there originally. Clearly however, some teams are upset at the lack of invite...

As a top North American event though, this will be the best so far. With the same format as ESL Atlantic Showdown, it will provide an opportunity for the best teams in NA to prove their placings.